THE PEOPLE OF THE WILDERNESS 



513 



When the Manchus 

 disappeared, the People 

 of the Wilderness, who 

 had never recognized any 

 Chinese rights over 

 them, declared their au- 

 tonomy and lived con- 

 tentedly under their 

 self-appointed ruler, the 

 "Hutukhtu," or Bogda 

 Khan (the third Living 

 God in the Lamaist 

 hierarchy, whose temple 

 palace is at Urga), until 

 the fatal day when the 

 Chinese Republic can- 

 celed their right of self- 

 determination. 



The stage on which this 

 drama of Far Eastern 

 politics took place was 

 too remote to awaken 

 the interest of the pow- 

 ers. Location, climate, 

 and, above all, lack of 

 communications — for 

 Mongolia cannot yet 

 boast a single railway, 

 although there are plans 

 for a line from Kalgan 

 to Kyakhta and only 

 recently a motor-car 

 service has been started 

 across the steppes to 

 Urga (550 miles) — shut 

 off the country from the 

 rest of the world. 



We still know little of 

 Mongolia's resources. 

 Gold mines certainly ex- 

 ist there (one of which, 

 the "Mongolor," is be- 

 ginning to be developed 

 by American capital), as 

 well as silver, copper, and 

 coal mines. The rivers 

 abound in fish, the forests 

 in valuable timber and 

 fur-bearing animals, 

 while the great table- 

 lands have farming po- 

 tentialities equal to Texas 

 and Nebraska. 



But the primitive Mon- 

 gols derive little benefii 

 from these riches. Like 



a Chinese; man in fantastic garh 



'. I H I 



jene T v ee Stewart 

 MOUNTED ON STILTS 



He is participating in a Chinese New Year's parade in Hflilar, 

 a town in Manchuria near the Mongolian border (see also illus- 

 tration on page 520). 



